3 Month Imprisonment for Unregistered Marriage in Indonesia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The religion court draft regarding marriage has been proposed by the Department of Religion to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to be ratified.

The draft contains a chapter arranging the criminalization of unregistered marriages. If proven guilty of unregistered marriage, the perpetrators are threatened with imprisonment up to three months, and a fine up to Rp. 1 million.

Regarding the regulation, the chief of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) commission, Maaruf Amin, considers that it's justifiable if people who commit unregistered marriages are threatened with crimial sanctions. "I think it's not exaggerated if those who commit unregistered marriages, or secret marriages, to be imprisoned. But that is if their actions do deserve imprisonment," he stated, Tuesday.

According to Maaruf, the people who commit unregistered marriages should be sanctioned if the marriage is detrimental to people. "The unregistered marriage children and families, also other people, and children might become unsupported or abandoned, and so on. I think the parameter is wide; religion arranges these."

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) commission chief basically supports criminal sanctions for those who commit unregistered marriages as long as the regulation benefits the people. (C20-09/C17-09)